Director: Community Engagement Board

Job title: Director: Community Engagement Board

Location: Remote with travel to meetings in the Heathrow area, 2 to 3 times a week – maximum 90 minute commute

Contract: Full time, open to secondment for the right candidate.

Salary: £90,000 per annum

Annual leave: 30 days a year

Reports to: CISHA/CEB Chair

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About CISHA

The Council for the Independent Scrutiny of Heathrow Airport (CISHA) is a small, dedicated, independent, non-profit organisation working to support and engage with communities and stakeholders impacted by Heathrow Airport. We are building a new capability to support our work on Heathrow expansion.

In particular, we would welcome applications from candidates representative of the diverse communities we serve.

The opportunity

This is a rare and influential opportunity which would suit a senior leader who combines strategic thinking with practical delivery, and who is motivated by public value and social impact.

As Director: Community Engagement Board, you will establish, lead, and sustain an effective and influential Community Engagement Board (CEB). Working closely with the Chair, you will shape the Board’s strategic direction, oversee delivery of its work programme, and ensure it operates independently and with credibility.

You will play a central role in building trusted relationships between communities, public bodies, and expansion scheme promoters — ensuring that engagement is meaningful, evidence-based, and impactful.

Role responsibilities

Strategic leadership and work programme development:

• Support the Chair and the CEB to develop, agree, and refine the CEB’s overall work programme, ensuring it supports trusted and influential community engagement.
• Ensure the programme reflects community priorities, statutory processes, and the Heathrow Airport expansion timetable.
• Maintain clarity of purpose, scope, and outcomes for the CEB.

Delivery and execution:

• Accountable for the execution of the agreed work programme, ensuring delivery of tangible and meaningful engagement outcomes.
• Translate strategic priorities into clear plans, actions, and deliverables which are matched to available resources.
• Monitor progress and adapt activity in response to emerging issues or stakeholder feedback.
• Comfortable playing a personal role in delivery of key outputs such as consultation responses, policy briefings, and research notes; and able to work independently to deliver high quality outcomes.

Influence and organisational capability:

• Provide policy-influencing leadership, ensuring community insights and concerns are clearly articulated and effectively fed into relevant decision-making processes.
• Build and develop broader engagement and influencing capability, including in relation to promoter’s plans and relevant formal consultations.
• Ensure evidence, insight, and engagement outputs are credible, timely, and accessible.

Representation and senior stakeholder engagement

• Act as a senior representative and a public face of the Community Engagement Board.
• Build and maintain effective working relationships with senior stakeholders, including Heathrow Airport, other credible promoters, local authorities, government bodies, airlines, as well as strong relationships with local businesses and local residents.
• Represent the CEB confidently in high-level meetings, forums, and public settings.
• Ensure evidence, insight, communications and engagement outputs (including Heathrow Expansion Watch)  are credible, timely, and accessible.

Establishment and oversight of the Community Engagement Board:

• Take responsibility fo the process of establishing the CEB, including recruitment of members, sourcing and managing appropriate experts, and community inputs.
• Ensure the effective functioning of the CEB, including governance arrangements, membership, meeting effectiveness, and clarity of roles and responsibilities.
• Support the Chair and members to operate collectively and independently.
• Uphold transparency, accountability, and integrity in all activity.
• Act as Deputy Chair to the CEB and manage the secretariat to the CEB.

People management:

• Provide line management to the small staff resource supporting the CEB.
• Set clear objectives, provide professional leadership, and foster a culture of collaboration, flexibility, independence, and continuous improvement.
• Take clear accountability for ensuring contractors and specialists deliver high quality, relevant work to time and budget.

Person specification

Essential criteria

Senior leadership experience:

• Substantial experience in a senior leadership role within a complex, multi-stakeholder environment.
• Proven ability to work collaboratively to set direction, prioritise across a complex portfolio and evidence of successfully delivering of high-profile, multi-agency programmes or initiatives.
• Sound judgement and resilience in complex and contested contexts, and comfortable working through ambiguity.

Credibility and representation:

• Ability to operate with confidence and authority with senior stakeholders, including executives, public sector leaders, and community representatives.
• Excellent communication, influencing and interpersonal skills, including public presentation.
• Ability to balance challenge with constructive relationship-building.

Policy and engagement skills:

• Experience of understanding, influencing and operating in a public policy environment, coupled with awareness of commercial behaviours and drivers.
• Demonstrable experience influencing policy and organisational decisions at a senior level.

Governance:

• Experience supporting or leading boards, partnerships, or advisory bodies.
• Strong understanding of governance, accountability, and effective board operation.

People management:

• Proven experience of line management and team leadership.
• Ability to build capability, set clear expectations, and support high performance.

Desirable criteria:

• Experience of major infrastructure projects and the NSIP planning process.
• Familiarity with local government, statutory consultation, or public policy processes.
• Experience working in politically sensitive or highly scrutinised environments.
• Strong track record in community, stakeholder, or public engagement

Purpose and values:

• Strong sense and drive for delivering social value
• Commitment to independence, transparency, and meaningful engagement throughout the DCO process, expected to complete in 2029.
• Respect for community perspectives and lived experience.

Inclusion and accessibility

We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible. If you require adjustments at any stage of the application or interview process, please let us know.

We are open to conversations about flexible working arrangements for the right candidate.

To apply, please send a CV together with a statement outlining your suitability for the role (maximum two pages) by email to rebeccacox@cisha.org before the closing date of midnight on 6th March.  

Please note that the initial sift will be based upon the essential criteria listed above.